1 Peter 2:5
…you also, as living stones, are being
built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. NASU
The Bible
often uses stones and rocks as metaphors to teach us truths contained in scripture.
It might be a little hard for us living in today’s modern society to understand
what is being taught here, because we don’t normally think of stones and rocks as
building blocks. Rather we may think of them as objects to throw or annoying
hindrances to digging in our gardens. But for the immediate audience to which
Peter wrote, this was a very useful picture of how God wanted their
relationship with Him to grow.
In the
construction methods of the time, when a structure was to be built, a choice
stone would be laid (or at least designed) in one corner first. That would be the foundation for the
whole building. It was called the “chief cornerstone,” and it would dictate how
the rest of the building would go.
The analogy
then becomes very clear. Peter tells us that as believers, our foundation, our
chief cornerstone, is Jesus himself. He is the cornerstone of the church and we
are the rest of the stones, used to complete the building. Our key verse calls
us a “spiritual house.” This is a beautiful picture of how the body of Christ
is “fitted” together and reminds us that we are interdependent. We need each
other to be complete and we all need Jesus to be the foundation of our lives.
If He is not, we will surely fall apart.
Peter goes
on to say that we were chosen for this spiritual house so that we might
proclaim …the excellencies of Him who has
called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; (1 Peter 2:9) NASU
Though we
are certainly to proclaim this in words, throughout this chapter Peter is
telling us that our deeds, our actions, are what truly proclaim this. Look at
these instructions in 1 Peter 2:11-12, “Beloved,
I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war
against the soul. 12 Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that
in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your
good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.” NASU
He began
the chapter with this exhortation: “Therefore,
putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander,
2 like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you
may grow in respect to salvation,” (1 Peter 2:1-3) NASU
You see,
the truth of the gospel is proclaimed when believers dwell together in love and
unity. Jesus said that the world would know that we are His disciples by our love one
for another (Jn 13:35). This means that we must be willing to put aside petty
differences, in order to grow as believers and proclaim the truth of the
gospel.
Those petty
differences, by the way, come not from others and their personality quirks, but
from our own selfishness and pride.
We must
remember two things. We were saved by grace, not because of any goodness in us
and we are not perfect. In fact, our personalities may be just as irritating to
someone else as theirs is to us!
Let us
strive, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to “fit” closely together. Let’s be
content with being one humble stone of God’s spiritual house and rely on the
chief cornerstone to hold us together. In that way, we proclaim that Jesus is
alive and living in us.
God bless
you
Coach
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